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from what i understand it it only speculation that it is based on Sakura's ending. there isn't any concrete proof.

Well, I'm not sure what all has been stated officially or not (I will update the main post to indicate that it's speculation), but the evidence is rather strong that there is a connection:

We know the timeframe is the same as D.C. II due to recurring characters (like Yuzu, who is human)

The protagonist's last name is Yoshino (and there are no other known Yoshinos in the D.C. universe)

The protagonist's cousin is also a Yoshino (though she seems to be somehow tied/related to Aisia)

Whether it's based on Sakura's ending or not, they seem to be an extension of Sakura's lineage. We at least know from Nemu's ending aftermath (shown in D.C. II) that she didn't end up with anyone else. It's possible that it may not be based on Sakura's ending as shown in the original D.C., but it seems like it has to be somehow connected.

Now, of interest is what Mahou posted before about Rikka, who looks a lot like Sakura to start with and has the same hair-piece as Sakura, whose favourite food is "Wagashi" (sound familiar?), and talks about Kiyotaka being someone reunited with her after a past life. So there's an obvious connection between Sakura and Rikka (or perhaps, given the timing of the message they received from the past, the connection is actually with Sakura's grandmother).

I can only assume that this story will too be another piece of the on-going puzzle revolving around Sakura and the never-withering sakura tree, that'll probably eventually be concluded in D.C. Zero.

Edit: Okay, if we want to go for wildball theories... it's possible (but incredibly unlikely) that it could be an extension of Yoshiyuki x Aisia if they somehow went back in time, which suffice it to say is a hugely improbable plot development.

Now, of interest is what Mahou posted before about Rikka, who looks a lot like Sakura to start with and has the same hair-piece as Sakura, whose favourite food is "Wagashi" (sound familiar?), and talks about Kiyotaka being someone reunited with her after a past life. So there's an obvious connection between Sakura and Rikka (or perhaps, given the timing of the message they received from the past, the connection is actually with Sakura's grandmother).

On her profile page this train of tought about the fated person is also mentioned.
"清隆に一目惚れをしたのか「キミとは前世で恋人同士だった、言ってしまえば運命の人なのよ」なんてちょっ と不思議（？）なアプローチをしてきたり" -> She fell in love at first sight with Kiyotaka and approached him a bit strangely/mysteriously(?) with "You were my lover/We were lovers in my past life, my destined person so to speak."
Based on my general impressions, this seems to become the main point of her route. It just sounds like a romance-drama development once there's even the slightest hint of Kiyotaka to remember something.

So, yesterday they obviously had the big product announcement for D.C. III where they revealed the cast, release date, and a bunch of other information. Most of it reiterates things that had already been rumoured/leaked, such as the end-April release date and the fact it'll be all-ages (which I guess may be a bad thing to some, but for a series like D.C. I don't think really matters). They had guest appearance from a number of big names from other companies like Visual Arts and Nitroplus, and discussed how game was developed on a new engine (called Unity) that was designed to be deploy-able on multiple platforms, including Android/iOS smartphones and on the Web (including the "D.C. Cloud" ). It goes without saying that yozuca* and rino (from CooRie) are back for vocal songs, and they got Haruko Momoi to write character songs. All the main staff are the team returning from D.C. II, including the formerly-"retired" tororo-danchou as producer, as we already knew.

One interesting note regarding the conversation we were having before... The voice actor for Charles Yoshino will be Ui Miyazaki, who you might recognize as the anime voice actress for... Aisia. I think the connection is confirmed.

Also, the other recurring character (announced so far) who will appear in the game is Yuuhi Takanashi, Mahiru's younger sister (from D.C. II F.L.), along with the already-mentioned Yuzu Kohinata (who looks at least 8-10 years older here... is this set in alternate ~2065?), and of course Minatsu. They still haven't revealed the last name for Mikoto, though confirmed the character design that was decided by readers of Dengeki G's.

ANN has a small write-up with the casting and some other basic information. There's also a Japanese write-up here.

I can't help to wonder if the final scene from DC II somehow ties into how Yoshinos show up in the third game. The background in that image and the name Charles made me even more suspicious, theres also the DC III vndb.org page that mentioned a message from 1951.

I havent bothered checking the details but it would make more sense that simply going with the Sakura ending from the first game (more interesting too). Honestly I think it would be a waste not to take advantage of the drama that was revealed at the end of DC II, even if they have to go a roundabout way to do it.

Maybe the story has already been made clear on the DC III homepage and I'm only spouting is nonsense here (been a while since this thread was updated) but meh

So, I figured that I'd bump this thread today since a lot has happened since we last had a major update in this thread.

The main thing is that the official website updated shortly after the release of the full trial to reveal the worst-kept secret about the parallel worlds of the game. Ricca Morizono is also known as Ricca Greenwood, and in the alternate world she's a Category 5 magician (only people 5 in the world at that level -- think like Level 5 in Index/Railgun ). Charles Yoshino is also Charles Marose, while Sara's last name in the alternate world is Crysalis (romanization notwithstanding). Interestingly, in the alternate world, there seem to be some discrepancies between the ages of the characters too. They basically tell you in the first few minutes of the game (both the Light Trial and the full trial) that Ricca came from the other dimension to search for Kiyotaka, though of course they don't reveal the reasoning behind it (or where the Ricca from the current dimension was, if she even exists).

The OP movie was also released recently, and it confirms the presence of Sakura in the game... which should surprise precisely no one.

All this to say there's definitely a sci-fi aspect to the game, and it definitely connects to the rest of the series, which we should expect assuming D.C. Zero is still on the way.

Anyway, will post more impressions as I make it through the full trial, which just arrived in the mail for me today.

Edit: Some comments from the trial:

Spoiler for Trial Notes (will update as I go through it):

The year is confirmed as about 2051, which -- if we were in the same universe -- is 4 years before the start of D.C. II. The problem is that, in the D.C. II universe, the sakura tree is revived due to Sakura's interference, but here it appears to have been revived by the collective wish of the cast... unless it happens to be really good timing. I think that Yoshiyuki had been around for more than 4 years prior to the start of D.C. II proper. Also, in this universe, the tree withered 20 years prior, which I don't think happened in the D.C./D.C. II timeline. So I think this world is definitely an alternate universe. Whether the other universe (that Ricca comes from) is on the "true timeline" remains to be seen. Edit: I think I figured it out, and was wrong with this. They just said that the message came from "over 100 years ago", not exactly 100 years ago.

It's hinted at the front-end, but Kiyotaka dreams of the other reality. This could be tied to a magic power as with Junichi and Yoshiyuki, but not sure. At the very least, it helps reveal the plot...

Suginami is always Suginami. For once he's not in the same class as the protagonist, though; he's "Suginami-Senpai" here. So again, certainly not the same Suginami in D.C.II (but not that I expect continuity with Suginami -- his reach extends beyond time and space...

ROFL Mikoto. She calls him "Suginami-sama" and is totally like a guard dog.

LOL - they setup a contest between the two newspapers, and Ricca's condition if he loses is that Suginami abandon the newspaper and her paper takes over. Suginami's condition? "Kiyotaka, I want you!" Kiyotaka like "no way, that's too weird, surely you want one of the totally-attractive girls around me...", but nope. And despite the fact that Kiyotaka is totally grossed-out, Ricca accepts. (In a way, it's pretty clever of Suginami; he knows exactly what Ricca wants (Kiyotaka) and makes her put it all on the line.)

This scene was in the light trial, but Ricca is actually quite childish all around, but manages to get her way through her popularity and determination. She formed the rival newspaper club simply so she'd have a chance to be together with Kiyotaka since they're in different grades, and managed to recruit all his friends. I guess it's the power of charisma.

In other news, it's funny to hear the original classroom music from D.C. I still in place in D.C. III. I wonder if they hired a new composer for III, though, because the style of the new pieces is quite different. But then again, it has been five years, so any composer would certainly have evolved his or her style.

And as expected, the jealousy from the cast is high right out of the gate. Sort of obvious given that they have five girls in the club and just one guy, and of course all the girls love him, so... harem? lol Kiyotaka notices Aoi's poor condition and decides to check if she has a fever using the forehead-to-forehead method (required technique for all D.C. protagonists!), and he does this in front of all the other heroines. Bad move!

Hahaha - Aoi is surprisingly bold! After the above scene, they're heading home and Kiyotaka is carrying her on his back, and she says that she wants to thank him but doesn't really have anything to offer. "So at least enjoy feeling a woman's softness on your back. I may not look it, but I'm hiding some large breasts." What?! And then later she gets him to carry her to her bed, and asks him to help her change clothes. And she makes him go through with it (though of course we don't see much), though she gets embarrassed half-way through. Aoi: A force to be reckoned with...

And they continue right away with the fanservice; Kiyotaka gets home and Charles is mad because he never called (the way she pouts is unmistakably Aisia-like, even notwithstanding they have the same voice actress), but later she decides to join him in the bath. Not that I mind the fanservice exactly, but they sure are playing it up considering it's an all-ages game.

Hmm... so they've expanded the "end of the day" system. In previous games you could choose when to set your alarm clock, but here you have a whole bunch of options: make a phone call (to any of the heroines), talk to Ruru-nee, run an App (which is greyed out), listen to the radio, or sleep. And unfortunately, when that screen appears you loose access to the save option. (Call Ricca on the phone, and she's naked because she just came out of the bath, and you see that through her avatar. More fanservice! ) It looks like you can complete up to three tasks before it forces you to sleep, but staying up late may have an impact on the next morning.

Incidentally, the save system doesn't seem to have the "icon" feature that it had before, but that may be a limitation of the trial. The icon was somewhat useful for remembering what route a save file was for. The engine also has a small display bug related to the sakura petals too, so perhaps another beta bug.

Hmm... I think I'm starting to get the picture of what's going on here based on Kiyotaka's dreams of the other world. I think that the Hatsunejima reality is the world all the girls wished for, and the other world is the true world. In the other world, Himeno is Kiyotaka's sister, but in Hatsunejima only a childhood friend (translation: they can be lovers). In the other world, Charles meets Kiyotaka when he transfers into their school and is a bit envious of Himeno's relationship with him, so in Hatsunejima she's his cousin (translation: she can get closer to him naturally). I'm guessing the other girls will have similar reasons for wanting the Hatsunejima reality. Perhaps with Aoi it's that she wanted to go to school with Kiyotaka (since in the other reality she seems to only work at the school, but not attend); she also calls him her "ideal older brother". With Ricca (I keep wanting to type Rikka), it seems clear that she wanted to be reunited with him somehow, so she seems to be the key trigger. Not sure about Sara yet.

I really like Sara as an addition to the D.C. cast of character types. I think she's the only one of the five characters that doesn't seem to be directly based off of an existing D.C. I or D.C. II character, though of course she's obviously based on Azusa from K-On so hard to call her totally original.

I suppose it's obvious that Mikoto will have a route in the inevitable D.C. III P.S. She reminds me a bit of a less mature version of Erika; very prideful and tsundere. I think they still haven't revealed her last name.

Ricca's past doesn't seem to be a ruse, at least in her thinking. She clearly says that she loves Kiyotaka, and that in her reality they were lovers, and she's annoyed that he doesn't remember though obviously it's not his fault. Her directness definitely reminds me a lot of Sakura, and that makes sense for her to be one of the top magicians. She wants him to remember their past, which I suppose is what we're seeing in his dreams. So I wonder if she's somehow helping him remember through his dreams? Or...? Hmm... apparently in this world Ricca has a mother though. If she appeared from another dimension, how did that work?

lol - the cellphone ring sounds mighty familiar...

And by the way, it probably goes without saying, but so many problems in D.C. games would be solved if people just remembered to lock their doors. I swear, if you walk in on someone and the door wasn't looked, the fault is at least shared!

The sakura tree has only been around for a short while, and already we're starting to see accidents. They also researched and found out that accidents occurred the last time the trees were alive. So is this the defective tree, then?

Okay, maybe the timeline is off after all -- it's connected to the "last school chairman" Yoshino Sakura, who disappeared after the first incident, but then reappeared briefly 20 years ago. And neither Kiyotaka nor Charles know her, despite sharing the same last name. It's a name that they all feel they should know (like it rings a bell), though... Kiyotaka feels like he's forgetting something very important. The plot thickens...

And Himeno calls him out all of a sudden for a walk. Does she know something is up...? Yup. Since the tree started blooming, she's had a unusually-realistic dream that she can't forget... a dream of another world where she's Kiyotaka's brother and she's at another school with everyone... and she's half-wondering whether this is the real world or that was. Yup... and Kiyotaka realizes that he's been having some strange dreams as well. The plot's definitely kicking into full gear now. Let me guess: a big revelation, and then trial over?

Yup, and here it comes. In the dream world, a voice that sounds like Aoi or Sara, I think (but it's distorted, so not clear). It's a scene from the other school. "Kiyotaka-san, please save me... from this never-ending world. Please end it."

But the trial doesn't end quite yet. An even bigger revelation is coming, no doubt.

Ahh... that's who Mikoto reminds me of. She's just like Minatsu.

Sara's smart (she skipped a grade) and came from a prestigious family, but her family wanted her to go to Kazami Gakuen beause, on the day she was born, they had a dream of her wearing the Kazami Gakuen school uniform. And though she thinks it's a weird reason, she okay with it now and feels it might in fact be fate because... she was able to meet Kiyotaka... Awwwww... (and of course Kiyotaka doesn't take the hint. If you were hoping that this sequel would finally be rid of the "donkan" protagonist, absolutely no chance. )

Ah, yeah -- so confirmed that the other setting is in fact London, as we suspected. Their school is the "Royal London Magic Academy", but they also called it "Kazemidori" in an earlier scene.

Unsurprisingly, they figured out that the mail they all received when they revived the tree was not sent through technology. It just appeared... as if magically...

...and again with the need to lock doors. lol At least Charles has a reasonable reaction, unlike a certain neighbour...

I'm sure that Ricca and the other girls would call Kiyotaka a traitor for sharing some information with Suginami. He asks him if he has any ideas about the oddly-sent mail, and Suginami sends Kiyotaka to visit... the Amakase Detective Agency? And here is Minatsu! She's the boss of the agency! So that's how they'll bring her into this...

Okay, I've figured out the timeline now. I think at least the Hatsunejima world actually takes place 20 years after the events of D.C. II. This makes the most sense given the other parts they've said, and the age of Yuzu (who would have been about 5 years old in D.C. II, and is now around 25). Minatsu confirms that she knows about the magical sakura from her time at Kazami Gakuen, and Yuzu says that, when she was little, she knew a girl (her best friend) with magical power. That's definitely Nanaka. Yuzu won't explain what her power was, so she'll have to explain it herse--- Nanaka'll have a cameo?!

Minatsu also explains that, as far as she knows, the sakura have only bloomed three times on the island, which makes sense (D.C. I, D.C. II, and D.C. III). So the timing of 1951 doesn't make sense to her, but she doesn't know about Sakura's grandmother who created the tree (which we do know).

One of Minatsu's theories about the message is that it could come from a parallel world. They could even have sent it to themselves for some purpose as yet unknown. Seems like something she wouldn't just say randomly...

So Himeno's dreams are continuing, but today's dream was apparently a bit... suggestive? But just like Yume before her, she tries her darnedest to hide and deny it, but ends up letting it slip. And as he's trying to throw her a line by saying "it's a dream and it can't be helped", and she agrees saying that there's no way she do that in real life, he agrees with her saying that he wouldn't do it either. And then of course she gets mad: "you're saying there's no way you'd do it?!" "But in my dream you were being so gentle!" Knowing her lineage, I'm sure she's talking about a massage...

Aha, so Ricca is seeing dreams too, and it picked up after the sakura trees revived. In her case, though, she says that it's her memory.

A small accident occurs and... she kisses him! Kiyotaka is surprised and a bit taken aback. Not sure if the trial is all common route, or if it's leading down a particular path.

As for Sara, she's feeling uneasy because whenever she thinks of the cellphone message she feels like she's forgetting something very important.

^^; He goes over to visit Aoi, who was home sick today, but she's feeling better. He decides to cook her some dinner, and she says she'll help... and comes out in "hadaka apron". And though he tries his darnedest to keep it cool and ask her nicely to get changed, she takes a sort of perverse pleasure in trying to get him to look at her and complement her. This girl...

And somehow she asks him to stay the night, and he said yes?! (He seems rather weak to the requests of cute girls, but I guess we can't blame him for that...) Reason was that she's having trouble sleeping because... you guessed it... she's having strange dreams. Starting when the sakura tree-- I think we see what's going on here. Obviously someone's trying to send them a message from the parallel world, as Minatsu said. Through the dreams they seem to be conveying the reality of the other world. It's obviously leading somewhere, no doubt related to the one strange dream before.

And as they all gather together to share data, they realize that they're all having strange dreams (though how much they remember varies by person), and this all leads back to the sakura tree. So they decide to head there and they find... Sakura?!

Sakura: "What I know is you all, and the fun time you all spent together. And the promise made at the very end."

They all feel that they should remember her though they don't remember clearly, and Kiyotaka is the one who remembers most. She says that's because he's the one she has the most memories with (which of course causes all the girls to misunderstand).

She asks them all listen to her long story, and says she's got candy -- yup, it magically appeared in the palm of her hand. She says that, at the moment, that's the only magic she can do.

And so she begins to tell her story. A story about one girl and one cherry blossom petal. A story about of a single promise and a meagre wish. And a story about a precious feeling that never changes throughout the ages. No many how many times the seasons change, spring surely comes, and brings with it the smell of cherry blossoms. This ever-repeating Da Capo-like story, like a dream among dreams... The story of Kiyotaka, who took his sister Himeno across the world to London, England and the Kazamidori Magic Academy, and the precious encounters that began that day......

Then begin the "real" character introductions in a video, and "PC Software Da Capo 3. Coming on 27 April 2012." Cut to black. "But you know, Kiyotaka-san, that's the sort of dream I see..."

Spoiler for Post-Trial Impressions/Wrap-up:

If you're at all a fan of the Da Capo mythology and overall storyline, this is a really great trial to get your attention. It became more and more clear what was going on as the trial went on, but I still want to know what actually happened in the other world to cause this situation to occur... and then, of course, what they're going to do to resolve it. One thing that's interesting about the other school is that it also seems to have a magical cherry blossom tree, so that means there's a good chance the two locations are magically connected. We had hints of this before, of course.

Mixed into the developing mystery was, of course, a lot of fanservice and sort of "harem antics" that you might expect from the franchise, but I thought it was a bit more strong in this opening because the 6 characters start together all at once and already very much in love with Kiyotaka. That's largely because it's sort of a fake setting (well, kind of) to mask the real story that they get to at the end of the trial. Now they basically have to start all over (Da Capo? go figure...) with the stories of his "real" encounters with all the heroines and the relationships that formed with the girls in the parallel world, leading up to the disaster that fractured things. And then... what are they going to do about it.

It also seems that Sakura will have a role in the other world, since she was close to Kiyotaka there, which makes sense given the true end of Da Capo 2.

As much as I'm hyped for D.C III, I will resist and wait for the english version, regardless of how long it will take mangagamer. Due to my "VN-rushing" playstyle I think replaying D.C II might be a wise choice as I tend to forget parts of the routes more easily and I cannot remember too much of the true ending other than a Sakura point of view during Otome's (?) story or so.

The updated (and presumed final?) trailer for D.C. III is out now. It contains a few tiny spoilers that were covered in the trial (that I wrote about above). For people who saw the earlier trailer, the animation is finished now so there aren't the awkward still-shot cuts that there were before. It's also a tiny bit NSFW in the usual anime fanservicey way (but that fits the tone of the trial, though many of the exact scenes portrayed in the trailer were not shown). All in all, though, I quite like the OP.

imo they just put an all-age tag on just to raise the fan service level

Which is ironic because some people would probably assume that an 18+ "adults-only" game that actually has sex scenes would also have more fanservice throughout. But yes, given that there won't be that content this time, I would say (at least in the trial portion) that the fanservice was upped a bit compared to previous games. But, again, this might be partly do to the portion of the game shown in the trial, which is sort of a special situation.

It was mentioned in an interview that was released just before the game's launch that...

Spoiler for minor spoiler for D.C. III, concept of the story:

...originally Circus had two different teams working on two different Da Capo games, one team for III and another for ZERO. For whatever reason, though, it ended up that the team working on ZERO (which is the team that worked on D.C. II) took over for Da Capo III, so the foundation is actually what was originally going to be D.C. Zero. This explains why, though it's a sequel, it also has an aspect that makes it a prequel. This is basically both D.C. III and D.C. Zero in one game.

So yeah, that explains the plot twist you allude to above.

I just received my box on Friday afternoon, so just about time to dive into the game. I'll be able to skip ahead a bit, at least, having played the full trial.

To anyone about to read D.C. III, I would recommend reading the heroine routes during Weather Vane as follows: Sara->Charles->Ricca->Himeno. The latter two can be interchanged freely, and barring Ricca being a somewhat important character (it's only a possibility... a possibility!), she'd be lumped together with the first two. I'll state my reasons later for the first two being first (in a hurry atm) along with the impressions through the overall game.

Edit: I'm already seeing at least a "season celebration", and a "P.S./P.C."